480GB HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD (SHPM2280P2/480G)

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

The 480GB HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD is the fastest, commercially available to the public SSD we’ve ever seen. The 480GB HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD is an out-of-the-park home run combined with an Olympic gold medal in the sprint. While obviously aimed at the enthusiast portion of the computer crowd due to the approximate $1/GB storage price, it’s one fast drive that any geek would treasure if you laid it in their hand and said “That’s your drive”.

It’s clear that the SATA interface is seeing its dying days, unless by some miracle they revive it with a bandwidth cure. The PCIe lanes on computer systems, currently limited to 40 on the 2011v3 X99 boards, are sure to grow in number as storage and speed demands and capabilities increase. M.2 and HHHL are the waves that enthusiasts and power users are riding right now. SATA isn’t going to go away, but it certainly is a limiting factor in attaining higher speeds. SATA will be around for years to come, but as manufacturing methods for M.2 and HHHL form factor drives improve and become cheaper, the pendulum will swing to their favor. We already see a big swing toward SSDs, and the SSD market is looking good this year with some drives running $100 for 240GB storage at 500MB/s rated speeds. SATA Express has yet to take off and we really don’t expect it to be more than a novelty that vanishes quietly into dedicated collector’s hands. Years from now people will wonder what SATA Express ever was but PCIe based M.2 and HHHL drives will be hitting their stride as technology trickles down.

The Kingston HyperX Predator M,2 G2 x4 SSD might be enthusiast/power user territory today, and what a sweet territory it is, but it’s a glimpse of the future of SSD technology and storage technology in general. We expect to see more PCIe lanes on motherboards and CPUs as developers want to use more PCIe bandwidth to reach amazing speeds that the 480GB HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD can provide. The barrier to storage nirvana at this time is three things: price, price, price. Prices drop as manufacturing becomes cheaper and demand goes up. The computer industry is a crazy one, and in 12-18 months drives like the Predator might drop drastically in price.

Why wait on the future when you can have the speed of the 480GB HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD in your hand, in your machine and owning players with lesser mortal machines today?

The Bear Facts: The 480GB HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD is an excellent performer at an enthusiast price. If you can afford that price, you can enjoy blazing, lightning-fast SSD speeds and a computer that is more responsive than you’ve ever dreamed of.